Use of retroviruses to express exogenous genes in vascular smooth muscle cells.

The ability to express cloned genes in mammalian cells has proved invaluable in the study of gene expression and function and in clinical applications for the correction of functional gene loss by gene therapy. Despite the wide use of DNA-mediated transfection of genes into eukaryotic cells, viruses possess several advantages for the transfer and expression of exogenous genes. Several types of relatively small viruses including the papovavirus SV40, papillomaviruses, adenoviruses, and retroviruses have been successfully employed. Vectors based on larger viruses such as Epstein-Barr, herpes simplex, and vaccinia are generally able to maintain infectivity in a wide range of cell types and have a greater capacity for foreign DNA. However, because most introduced cDNA sequences are relatively small these vectors have not been widely used.